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Back-to-back trials set for county teasurer

LAS CRUCES - Doña Ana County Treasurer David Gutierrez is scheduled to stand trial before a jury twice next month in two cases stemming from allegations that he made sexual advances toward a woman who worked in his office more than two years ago.

Back-to-back trials set for county teasurer

LAS CRUCES - Doña Ana County Treasurer David Gutierrez is scheduled to stand trial before a jury twice next month in two cases stemming from allegations that he made sexual advances toward a woman who worked in his office more than two years ago.

Gutierrez, 61, who is serving the final year of his second term as county treasurer, was indicted in March by a Doña Ana County grand jury in separate criminal and civil cases.

The charges in the indictments are based on allegations that Gutierrez sexually harassed a former female employee in his office on a consistent basis, beginning in early 2014 and leading up to an August 2014 incident in which he offered the woman $2,000 in exchange for sex.

Gutierrez’s criminal trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 8 in 3rd Judicial District Court in Las Cruces, according to his attorney, Jose Coronado, and Deputy District Attorney Daniel Sewell, who is prosecuting Gutierrez.

In the criminal case, Gutierrez is charged with one of three possible violations to the state’s statute on ethical principles of public office. If convicted by a jury, he faces up to 18 months in prison on one of the violations, all fourth-degree felonies.

Gutierrez’s civil trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 29.

In the civil case, Gutierrez is accused of committing a corrupt and immoral act while in public office. If convicted by a jury, he will be removed from office. His term ends Dec. 31. He cannot seek re-election due to term limitations.

Twelfth Judicial District Judge Angie K. Schneider will preside over both trials. Schneider was designated last month by the New Mexico Supreme Court to replace 6th Judicial District Judge Daniel Viramontes, who retired from the bench in August and had been selected to handle the cases after all eight 3rd Judicial District Court judges recused themselves in March.

Sewell said Schneider set the trial dates on Friday during a hearing in Alamogordo.The 12th Judicial District includes Otero and Lincoln counties. She also granted Gutierrez's motion to have the criminal trial before the civil trial.

If convicted as charged in the criminal case, Gutierrez would become a convicted felon and would no longer be considered a “qualified elector,” a person who is eligible to vote. And thus, he would be disqualified from continuing to hold elected office.

Gutierrez’s case bears similarities to a case involving Carol Sloan, a member of the Public Regulation Commission who was convicted of two felony offenses in 2010 and was forced out of office by the Supreme Court.

In 2011, the Supreme Court authorized Sloan’s removal from office after the justices ruled that she was no longer a “qualified elector” based on her felony convictions.

In the ruling, the court noted that the state constitution requires that a person must be “qualified elector” in order “to hold any elective public office.” It further noted that holding public office is “an ongoing endeavor,” which requires the officeholder “to maintain the status of a qualified elector.”

In Sloan’s case, the court ruled that since she is a convicted felon, “she is no longer a qualified elector and cannot continue to hold public office.”

The court rejected Sloan’s claims that she should be allowed remain in office on the grounds that she was a “qualified elector” when she was elected into office. It also rejected Sloan’s assertion that only the Legislature could remove her from office through the impeachment process.

The court concluded that Sloan’s “eligibility to hold public office ceased when her status as a qualified elector ceased” and that the state constitution demanded an automatic forfeiture from office when she was convicted of the two felonies.

Gutierrez has served as county treasurer since 2008. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.